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  1. You know how the physics regarding Steelpushes have always been kind of screwy? (And I don't mean in a rotational dynamics kind of way.) I've dove deep into the math, looked at five different models I've seen proposed, and debunked them all. I've also developed my own model, which will all the perceived inconsistencies with Allomancy. I don't like my model, but it works. Here's my model in a nutshell: An Allomancer does not directly define either the speed of their Push or the force of their Push. They define the "strength" of their Push, which in turn is used to find both the maximum speed and the maximum force they can Push. Whichever of the two limits comes into play first limits behavior, and the most peculiar effects of Allomancy happen when the changing components of the force balance result in switching from one limiting factor to the other. The relationship between maximum speed and maximum force at a given strength is not based in physics whatsoever; it is an entirely arbitrary connection, made so the math matches how we've seen Allomancy function. The full explanation is attached as a PDF. I try to explain most of the math as I go along, so I don't think you need a thorough understanding of physics to follow along. Please, if anything about the physics is unclear, please let me know. The Impossible Physics of Allomancy.pdf No, I will not do your physics homework. EDIT: I have gone through and done a tighter mathmatical analysis. Understanding it requires college-level mathematics that are several courses in, so I decided not to try to make any of these accessible to the uninitiated. That, along with with referencing points I already made in the earlier document, let me limit this to exactly one page. But it will be very hard to understand on its own. Make sure you at least skim through the first document before opening this one. The Impossible Physics of Allomancy Addendum.pdf
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  2. From the album: Doodles of Scadrial

    “I am the one thing you can never kill. I am Hope.”
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  3. To sail into a Highstorm was suicide... Started this one at 11:30 this morning and I'm finishing up now, just 7 hours later. Pretty happy with the fast turnaround =) Let me know what you think! And if you like what I'm making, follow me on Instagram! @grantmhansen. there will be more of it coming!
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  4. First and foremost: I'm on my phone and my access to internet is flimsy, so I couldn't search if this had been talked about before or not, and my grammar and format might be plainly wrong so, excuse me on both ends, please. I had a lot of thinking time today (where i have to wait in the car and only wait...) and my mind wandered towards the Cosmere as usual. It's very simple, really, but I cane up with something: When you awaken something there are 2 things that ease or handicap the process: if the thing had been previously alive, and if it had a human shape (or at least part of one, like... A foot) The problem with awakening iron or its alloys is that they were never alive. You might make an iron leg to substitute one you lost but awakening that would be hella difficult. But make it out of bone, or wood, and it's a lot more doable. Here is the thing: Trace Elements, or Oligoelements, are small, minuscule amounts of material that our body has and needs but are in such a low percentage that we don't actually count as having them. Iron is one of those Oligoelements, used to make blood (i think?) and the average male adult has 3.8gr of the things in his body (a little less for women). A very small amount. But it's Iron that has been part of a living body, that "remembers" being alive. I'm not actually sure how much iron does a sword actually needs. Let's say it weighs 5kg. You'd need around 1320 humans to acquire that much iron. Let's also assume our extracting methods are not 100% effective... Let's say that we actually siphon correctly half of a persons iron with our procedure and the rest goes down the sink with the rest of the blood. 2640 humans, for a sword that's 50% easier to awaken than one made from mined ores (as it isnt in human shape) It hardly seems practical (if at all), but imagine you GET to do that. Invest a wallop of breaths in the thing, command it to slay evil, and it actually works. damnation... Suddenly, if this method is known, other people might try to repeat it and slaughter another 2640 humans. Wouldn't it be a secret worth killing to keep?
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  5. Guess who. Lol ok I need to stop.
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  6. *dancing to Come and Get Your Love* makes me feel real good! I'll take a moment to thank everyone on this site! I love this site! It's well constructed, with lots of nice people who all love Brandon Sanderson. (If not, then why the heck are you here) thanks guys for creating an inclusive and thoughtful community. Edit: coincidentally this is also my 365th post. A year of posts, for one post a day.
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  7. Evil overlord who made nine human kings serve him by offering them power. He rules over the wasteland of ash. He was defeated by having the jewelry that contained his lifeforce stolen.
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  8. AHH! We lost lynched the element of loyalty! (sorry about my inactivity) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weirdo sat on the street, playing his accordion.The kingdom as he knew it might end, but that doesn't stop weirdo from having a good polka! he even earned a couple bucks from some people walking along the road. he got up after that and flew off toward his favorite restaurant, to get a Pb&p sandwich (peanut butter and pickle). He was in a good mood until he saw the sign in front of the little sandwich shop. Closed for fear of changlings He dropped to his knees and yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
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  9. There is an Internet outage in work, so nothing works, so technically I'm getting paid for sitting on my butt and doing nothing
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  10. Guys, I had a lightbulb. So the main problem with getting published is finding a publisher, right? Some opt to go the route of self-publishing, but they are rarely successful because few people find their stuff. So my plan, which involves you, brilliant shard writers, is to create a site where we can publish our books. However, as a new website idea I have a new idea coupled with it; write stories in episodic format. Each "episode" will be 5000-12000 words. Each is sufficient as just a story and is part of something larger too. For example, take the Cosmere. One can read each novel as an independent novel, but they are all interconnected. Basically, it will be a series of short stories. My goal is to help struggling authors get their work read by a wider audience. I think the bare minimum we would need to go in is 10 writers. So being the person that I am, I had this idea and made a very basic website and added an example of a short story of my own. https://alexjudd8.wixsite.com/bookhaven I'm willing to develop and manage the site, but I need a few commitments first. So, what do you think of the idea? (Please be gentle.)
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  11. Hello everyone, Long time reader here, first time poster. I'm a huge fan of Sanderson (which everyone here is), and he has greatly inspired my writing I just wanted to reach out to the community and announce I have self published a book on Amazon, and would love for everyone to check it out. It is Kindle exclusive, but the app is free to download. The book is called: Sky Pirates (A Goblin's Tale) Vol. 1. It is about a crew of Goblins who believe they are sky pirates. When their captain, a Human named Finnegan, gets sick, the crew gathers together to try and cure his illness. It is currently on sale for $0.99 until Jun 14th, and all the proceeds made during the sale are going to the charity Worldbuilders, a charity founded by author Patrick Rothfuss. The link below provides more information regarding the charity. https://worldbuilders.org/page/fundraising The link below will direct you towards my book. https://www.amazon.com/Sky-Pirates-Goblins-Tale-Vol-1-ebook/dp/B0714LDCQL/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496087057&sr=8-1&keywords=sky+pirates While I want to sell as many copies as possible (What author doesn't?), my goal is to be able to donate as much money to Worldbuilders as possible. Please check it out. For $1, you will get to read my fun story about Goblins, and donate to help change the world. Thank you all for your time, and enjoy!
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  12. Okay, I've got an idea that would potentially give us a way to use the element of generosity to scan for elims. It's late here, so please check over the proposed theory for weaknesses. The holders must make sure to always pas it on immediately. The old holder will announce who they are, 2 cycles after they passed it on, as well as to who they passed it on (this means that the one that received it would also have already passed it on). The next cycle, the person that had received it mentions who they passed it on to (again, this newly announced person would already have passed it on further). The moment someone can't accurately claim to who they passed the element, we know we've found an elim. The one major risk I see s that the elims would attack whoever the newly announced holder is to break the chain. Such a tactic would guarantee that they'd never be able to catch the element of generosity, but they might catch the holders of other elements. So, what are your thoughts? Did I miss anything (quite likely, as I am quite tired right now)? Any other suggestions? Edit: So, just to quickly recap: the holder of the element of generosity announces himself and whoever he/she passed the element onto, but only once the one they'd given the element to has had a chance to pass it on themselves.
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  13. Alright. I wasn't on yesterday, so I'm responding to everyone who talked about me. Jedal: "The things rand has said so far doesn't point to him as either an elim or townie, so it wouldn't be wise for us to lynch him." Exactly. Right on. I don't think he's an elim, either. Bridge Boy: " I'll vote on Paranoid King. His quick vote on Rand still seems kinda suspicious" What? Whaat? Did you even...? what? wat. whut? Waht? Why? I NEVER VOTED ON RAND! Mint: "By PK's own logic, PK would be the most helpful in terms of obtaining information." Using my own logic against me? I love it! If I'm an elim... Brightness? Is probably innocent? And you get some leads on Randuir and Jon too. I'll take it! Jon: "I'm tempted to toss a vote onto PK, in retaliation for his vote on me (albeit retracted), and I'm resisting because it seemed well-intentioned, and has been thoroughly discussed." Now, you said earlier that you understood the logic behind my vote. If you're adding this to explain what you were secretly thinking at the time, I can understand it, as it seems like a reasonable thought to have. However, you seems to be explaining it as a new thought, which contradicts your attitude earlier. That seems strange to me. And is a good enough lead for me to follow. Jon. --- Moneybags had stayed up late last night, trying to *ahem* legally relieve ponies of their money. And illegally too but that part wasn't important. When he awoke this morning, it was still dark. But he could clearly hear the daily activities going on. The milkpony depositing the milk, the mailponies delivering the mail, the birds rehearsing in the trees. Something was wrong. Come to think of it, he'd heard rumors the night before. Something about the sun princess being gone. Changelings disguising as the populace. An epidemic of donkeypox. What a disaster. Well, it was time to do something about it. He pulled out his "special" kit, for just-in-case instances. "Sausage! Getcher sausages here! Inna bun! Guaranteed 100% edible! Perfect treat for the end of the world! Only 2 bits, and that's cutting me own..." He trailed off as he noticed a birthday announcement being put up. New plan. It would beat selling sausages to ponies, at least.
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  14. I'm still quite proud of my work on those ranks.
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  15. I think the standard is roughly the third, but I don't think it's that simple. The ability for the Spren to manifest physically isn't purely tied to the Oaths, but to the strength of the bond between the Radiant and their Spren. So lets use Edgedancer as an example. Lift needs to reach roughly the third oath for Wyndel to manifest as a blade. Early in the book, Wyndel is dropping big hints that she needs to progress so she can do this. So he obviously isn't able to at that point. Then look at the Oath itself. "I will listen to those who have been ignored." she spends the whole book doing this. So she may not have actually spoken the third Oath, but she's clearly working her way towards it, and by the climax has already progressed enough that Wyndel can manifest. All she really had left to do was speak the oath and set it in stone. As an aside to this, I also think this is why Lifts Spoken Oaths have been less visually Dynamic than Kaladin's. Where Lift is constantly progressing, Kaladin is constantly warring with himself and comes to his Oaths at a major point of decision, overcoming his own inner turmoil that kept the bond from progressing. The glyphs and visuals with Kaladin are a direct result of him taking a Leap forward with his Bond. Whereas Lift has been walking at a steady pace while trying to deny she's changing. Her Oaths are spoken at points that she already progressed far enough to say them, but has basically held herself back from fear of change, and so the words are only really a formality, denying us the impressive light show.
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  16. My #1 favorite quote is from Dalinar in WoR when talking to Kaladin and Amaram, and he says that an apology is in order because of the conflicting stories of both men. We think he still believes Amaram and when Kaladin steps forward to make a false apology, he says: "Not you, son." To me, there was just so much power and epicness in those three words. In that small sentence, in that one moment, we realized that Dalinar was honorable enough to trust the word of a darkeyes over that of a close friend, we realized that he actually knew Amaram for the pile of moldy crem he really was when we thought only Kaladin knew, and one of the most infuriating subplots of the series (at least, to me) was finally resolved all at once. That one line was so epic, I literally exclaimed "OOOOOOOOAH!!!" in excitement while reading. I imagined Dalinar slipping on a pair of shades when saying that, because of how much he WRECKED Amaram with those three words. Sorry for the excited word vomit, but... ugh, it was just such a fantastic and well-placed line.
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  17. People on Roshar be like:
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  18. So there has been a lot of mystery surrounding what the Aimian said at the end of that interlude, most theories ive seen revolving around Unmade. I think i found a piece of evidence that confirms this. In the first Dalinar chapter in WoR he is in a vision set in the purelake. Him and a bunch of other soldiers, including a radiant, are hunting for a spren that has been "touched", or corrupted, by something named Sja-anat. The title of this chapter? Taker of Secrets. It makes a lot of sense to me that something that can take over cognitive entities would be able to extract information from someone after they died and before they passed to the beyond. Let me know what you think.
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  19. In 2015 I posted an image in the gallery called The New and Improved Sylphrena. I was super proud of it and thought it was the best drawing I'd ever done. This is my new Sylphrena in her Vorin dress, complete with safehand, from the Oathbringer preview. Done in glorius Krita.
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  20. We know a bit about Nalthian magic, but not a lot about the realmatics of it. Some outstanding questions remain, such as the status of divine Breath (is it qualitatively different from normal Breath and functions realmatically in a different way, or is it basically a large packet of investiture in one Breath and only quantitatively different), the Cosmere-status of a Drab, the nature of Commands, the differences between the types of Awakened Objects, the nature of Heightenings, and the way in which Breath both gives you access to the magic system and is the investiture fuel to use the magic system. I wanted to try to refine this more, but there's a fair few topics at the moment on Breath so I thought it's a good time to post it. Theory Breath specifically (or at least far more than other forms of investiture) cements the connection between your Physical, Cognitive and Spiritual selves. Awakening is the use of Breath to create or alter a Spiritweb, and a Command is basically programming that spiritweb. Ideas I will explore these two ideas separately, even though they link, as I think that some of the unknowns around Nalthis are easier to answer if these two aspects of Breath are thought of as separate. (The following is a very coarse summary of other magic systems, but I don't want to get too fussy about these, this isn't supposed to be a realmatic lesson about different magic systems, it's just to explain Nalthis using analogies from systems we're all more familiar with). On Scadrial, genetics give access to magic, metals provide access to the fuel (straight from Preservation), the type of metal governs the effect. On Roshar, a Nahel-bond spren gives access, Stormlight is the fuel (generally - I'm leaving out something like the Honorblades here), the type of spren governs the effect. On Nalthis, Breath both provides access to Awakening and is the fuel, but intent (your own will) governs the effect. But of course it does something else - simply holding Breath gives the Heightenings, which (in stages) increase your awareness of things like color, audio tones, and life (/investiture), through to making your body immune from disease and ageing. In some ways though, once you're the Fifth Heightening (which matches what you get from a single Divine Breath) the Heightenings after that are more about your ability to Awaken effectively than they are about you changing. Breath So what about Breaths create the Heightenings (up to the fifth), which both make you a more 'perfect' person to others (and objectively) and enhance your perception of others? I think it simply that Breath anchors your physical self to the other Realms more effectively than any other system. Let's take the extremes. Someone at the fifth heightening does not age and is immune to disease (though not injury). We know that healing in the Cosmere generally takes the form of investiture 'repairing' your physical body to match your spiritweb, as filtered by your Cognitive perception of yourself. So I believe the simple reason that someone at the Fifth Heightening is immortal in those ways is because their aspects on the three Realms are perfectly matched with each other, and holding that investiture allows those 'anchors' to stay in place. In other systems, it is necessary to actually use investiture to heal, at which point the investiture returns to the system. With Breath, we already know it’s not leaky (that is the nature of the Endowment intent), it sticks well, so I believe that once you reach the fifth heightening there is no need to consume investiture to heal, your physical body will simply always match your spiritual self. I feel it also explains why holding Breath increases your biochromatic aura, your physical self is perfectly matched to your spiritual self, so people can literally see the vibrance of your soul in a way they can’t with a less invested person, or a drab – because their flesh is just flesh, it’s not effectively glowing with the investiture their spiritual aspect has, because the soul is not closely enough connected to the body. This is how I fit Divine Breath and Returned into this. I do not believe a Divine Breath is just the equivalent of 2000 normal ones, but nor is it a totally different system. I think a Divine Breath is basically a packet of investiture that is specifically designed to do one thing – cement a person’s self in all three realms. The reason giving it to someone else will heal them completely, but not add to their breaths, is that it is not normal Breath, it is something solely designed to staple the three Realms together – when you use that on a normal person, their body suddenly matches their soul, which means they instantly heal. But because it is not normal Breath, they can’t actually hold it as Breath, it’s a one-off adjustment to match the body to the soul. It works differently with a Returned but I’ll cover that in the Awakening part. A Drab is the opposite end of the spectrum, a Nalthian with no Breath. A Nalthian with Breath is more invested than a normal Cosmere-human. A Drab is less invested. A Drab cannot become a Returned. A Drab have ‘something’ missing from them compared to a normal human in the Cosmere. I believe that Nalthian humans naturally have a less stable connection between their aspects on the three Realms (perhaps Nalthis has the Realms further ‘apart’, as Roshar has them closer together), and the Breath each person is born with is a way of Endowment fixing that, but stapling people’s aspects to each other better. A Drab can’t return because of that loose connection – once they die, they progress to the Beyond instantaneously, there is no delay keeping them in the Cognitive Realm, and no time for Endowment to do the Returned thing. Moral of the story – holding Breath makes a more perfect connection between your physical, cognitive and spiritual selves. Awakening I believe Awakening is the act of transferring Breath into something in order to create a soul or alter a soul, but is fundamentally the ability to edit or program a spirit web (imagine AonDor acting directly on the spiritual realm – a Command is basically a program governed by intent rather than form). Let me demonstrate using the four kinds of biochromatic entities. Type 1 – Returned – A Returned is a dead person who has had their soul stapled to their dead body with a Divine Breath. What has happened? (this is speculation but on good grounds) The person dies, Endowment steps in while they’re making the transition to the Beyond, through the cognitive realm, infuses their soul with investiture and staples it to their corpse, and reanimates their body (wiping their memories). I believe what happens is that Endowment uses a Divine Breath to make a copy of their soul (as is the nature with Cognitive Shadows), reprograms that soul with whatever their Command is (probably something that lies relatively dormant and gives free will until it compels the Returned to heal) and reattaches the ‘new’ soul to the old body. The only reason that a Returned needs a new Breath each week is because their body was dead, and Breath does not stick well to dead organic material. But effectively, Endowment takes an old soul, creates a new one and reprograms it, and attaches it to a corpse. Type 2 – Lifeless – A Lifeless “had their soul leave, but then they’ve had a replacement stuck in, in the form of Breath”. All that happens with a Lifeless is that the Awakener uses Breath to create a new soul and attaches that new soul to a dead body. With a Returned, a huge amount of investiture (in the form of a Divine Breath) is needed because you’re replicating an entire soul of a fully sapient person. With a Lifeless all you are doing is creating a very very simple soul. The Command you give governs that soul. It’s no different at all to creating a computer program, but in this case the Command is the programming. There are definitely some realmatic implications to doing this in a body that was once alive (going into Clod’s situation is beyond the scope here) but fundamentally your just creating a new soul with a very simple programming code. But this is also why you can’t withdraw Breath from a Lifeless, their soul is now made of that Breath, but it’s a real soul, if a simple one. The investiture has become something with an identity. This is also why a special Command was needed for one-Breath Lifeless – the Command is simply the program, and if that is exact enough you don’t need extra investiture to hold everything together, all you need is the new soul (which takes one Breath). Type 3 – your run of the mill awakened objects (eg a rope) – With something ilke awakening a rope, or a straw man, I believe that what you’re doing is the same principle. You are using Breath (a lot of it) to create a soul for the rope, and your Command (intent) to program that soul). Because this new soul does not resemble in any way the physical aspect of the awakened object, massive amounts of Breath are needed to anchor the physical to the spiritual, and the anchor never really takes which is why you can withdraw the Breath whenever needed. The object is not integrated enough in the three realms to develop an identity. It’s a hack, like soulstamping, that uses investiture to make something real that shouldn’t be. Type 4 – Nightblood – I wont’ even attempt to explain Nightbloood properly because there is clearly more going on, I still suspect investiture from another Shard. But basically we’re talking about creating a new soul with a Command that seems simple but, in programming terms, is incredibly complicated, and you’re trying to staple it to a physical thing that both does not resemble that soul (requiring a lot of investiture to make the hack hold) and is made of a material that was never alive to begin with. advanced commands I simply regard as a subset odd Awakening as I've described it. The Command to forget, for example, has nothing too crazy about it, it is just an Awakener reprogramming a soul to not include those memories. There could be more to the advanced commands but if Awakening is just soul programming there need not be more. Cognitive Realm A final note, on the Cognitive Realm. Obviously Nalthis is incredibly important cognitively, with intent playing a role of focus in the magic system. I didn’t want to explain the implications every step, but basically Breath staples all three realms together, including cognitive, which means people with Breath can have significantly more influence in the Cognitive Realm, as demonstrated by the ability for a Command with Intent to basically do all these things, and as is indicated by the ability of Returned, and the Royals, to change their appearance. Vasher can suppress his Divine Breath simply by refusing to believe, temporarily, that he is a god. It takes huge willpower, but he can. The Royal Family has hair that changes based on how they view themselves Cognitively. This is just a manifestation of stapling their aspects together more strongly, as Breath is constantly restoring their physical self to match their soul, but as with all healing this is done through the filter of the cognitive realm. So that’s it, this post is far too long already, and I haven’t even included quotes or WoBs which is most unlike me. I may try, but most of this stuff is already-known facts or complete speculation. I’m interested in ideas, but for once much more on the realmatic fundamentals here than the details. I think it's my most speculative realmatic theory, but hopefully it has some ideas worth exploring. But the core of this is: the innate investiture of Breath is uniquely effective at stapling your physical, cognitive and spiritual aspects together; and Awakening is a magic system that is based on programming spiritwebs. Cheers edit - I just want to explicitly acknowledge that others have been doing posts on some of this and I don't want to hijack those, particularly @Djarskublar who posted one in the middle of me developing this. In the end though I felt mine was getting technical enough that it would be too hard to explain it through comments on other posts. And because it's highly speculative I'm of course happy to have pointed out anything fundamental I've missed that dashes this theory to pieces
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  21. Yeah! It's an 8 month paid intern position (I need one more paid intern, or co-op, to complete my degree - once that's done I graduate). The position is in R&D at Stemcell technologies (in Vancouver, Canada). I'd be supporting/assisting in designing, testing and improving in their robotics/automation department. Stemcell technologies equips biotechnology labs with equipment, growth media/etc. So essentially I'd be helping build/design automatic/robotic biotech lab equipment. It's pretty sick for my long term career goals too. I want to work as a biomechatronic engineer, which this flirts with the edges of. It's biotech, so I get a foot in that field, and it's robotics, so I get a foot in that field too (Biomechatronics is the integration of mechatronic systems and biological systems. Working robotic limbs and exoskeletons. Medical Cyborgs, basically.)
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  22. I am planning to do a road trip with some friends in July, I am so excited.
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  23. Super, super dark. I think the main problem with this is the science. Modern Nalthis seems to be still in the horse/carriage/ sword state of scientific development. They may not have progressed far enough to (a) recognize that blood has an iron component, or (b) be able to extract - or - filter the iron out of the blood. So why this may ultimately work, I do not think it is possible from a tech level given what we no Nalthis. This route is probably best for creating a metal golem, not unlike the D'Denir statues, bone core with blood iron body. That said, we know this took a ton of breath to accomplish. If we keep your calculation, but look at it as 1320 humans worth of Breath to awaken the sword, that might work. But other than that, not technologically possible.
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  24. Oh I've been using my gut in that way for ages. I use it to guide me to Delicious Things (including Nutella, Cheeztis, Bacon, and Guacamole)
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  25. Heh, all in good fun, though. Randuir and I had an awesome tag-team RP going in… *looks back* LG30, and I decided I trusted him because of a number of factors, and then, BAM, he stabbed me and everyone else in the back. In an awesome way. I don't hold it against him. I just don't trust him. Like I don't trust Aman. Or Elenion.
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  26. I know The whole thing is a very elaborate trolling.
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  27. Sooooo.... It looks like I have a job interview tomorrow morning. This is exciting. And nerve-wracking.
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  28. You should always be suspicious of @randuir. Always. Even if you think he's proven villager. EDITED IN: I'm still working on trying to figure out a solid strategy for the holders of the Elements to work together, but for now, I have a couple suggestions (many of these align with Rand's from the first cycle, but I'm just going to post them anyway because it's what I came up with on my own, and I only referred back to his to see if I directly contradicted anything he said): Honesty: Target Unicorns first, so then you have someone who can create PMs for you. Then target Pegasi, since they'll be the most dangerous when it comes to forcing a tie or changing the lynch target. Target me too, so you know I'm good. :-P Generosity: Pass your power often. This one should cycle through a lot of people, and by keeping track of who you give it to and then learning (if we can) who it goes to and if it goes immediately the next cycle, we can smoke out the Changlings (since they won't know who it actually goes to). If possible, the holder of Honesty should coordinate with the holder of Generosity when that process begins, and they can work together to confirm the alignment of those who get Generosity. Laughter: Use your power. Just about every cycle. Target yourself at some point randomly to keep your identity hidden, but target otherponies you think are probably clear, even if you're not sure. If we can't lynch someone we think is suspicious one particular cycle because of your actions, that's not a huge problem, but you have the potential to be very influential. If you find out who the holder of another Element is, include them in your targets that you cycle through, but randomly (roll a die or something if you have to). Kindness: I'm tempted to tell you to out yourself and let us lynch you, since we'd then have a confirmed good pony, but that works towards the Changling's win condition. If we get down to where we think we only have one or two Changlings left, though, and there are still multiple Elements in play, that might be a valid strategy. Magic: As Randuir said the first cycle, don't do anything to draw attention to yourself unduly. Play as if you're any other pony, and if you're up for the lynch, defend yourself (unlike Straw). Everyone else: Don't get sick. There's all kinds of nasty bugs going around, I think, and some of you are looking a little green. Or pink. I think Razor Shard is getting a little bit of white around the edges of his mane, too, which could be a sign of early aging. I think I need to take a nap…
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  29. Because he won one of the art polls on my twitter, here's a scruffy and spiteful slave Kaladin, before Rock gave him a shave.

    © Characters belong to Brandon Sanderson. Art is unofficial and belongs to Natalie Rodgers.

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  30. Finally! I can get on again! First of all, I do apologize for not responding to any of the RP yesterday and completely missing the party! Ecthelion? It isn't over. And then Joe invited me for some RP, and then he died before I could get to it! Rude. Of the eliminators. Curse them and their dashingly good looks and twirlable mustaches! Next, we lost loyalty already? That's awful! That means the changelings are 1/6th of the way to victory and we lost a cool power! Straw must have been feeling so frustrated as we slowly crept in and voted on him. We'll have to ask Pinkie Pie to help make it up to him later when he wakes up. Wait, we lynched him, right? So what happens to the Element? Do the changelings get it by default, or does it move on to a different pony? It's probably been said before and I just missed it. Third, my excuse! Razor shard finally kicked the last of the sticky web off of himself, landing on the ground with a thump. The changelings had kidnapped him right underneath Prism's nose, just after she invited him to a party! That was his atonement gosh darnit! Luckily when he woke back up he'd been able to use the spike in his harness to cut his way free, although it took an entire day to do so. He had to get back to Ponyville and warn the others. And weren't they supposed to choose a pony for the Princess to investigate? And he missed that too?! Getting kidnapped sucked! Razor Shard began dashing through the thick forest which he recognized as the Everfree Forest and restrained a bit of a shiver as thin branches brushed over his coat like cold fingers of the dead. He wasn't scared, just... wary. He picked up speed. As he dashed through the forest, he missed the small pack of changelings heading back the way he had come from, holding another sack of webbing in their clawed hands. By the time he made it back to Ponyville he was panting and had scratches over his body along with leaves in his hair. "Is everyone alright?" He yelled out coming to a stop. "Did anypony get taken?" Besides me, he hadded mentally. With mournful looks, he was pointed to the main square where a large tent was set up. Razor Shard slowly advanced, pushing his way through the tent flaps. With faces like that, there was no way it was good news. Inside he found rows of cots set up, most empty, but one cot held Straw, limp as if he was in a coma. A nurse bustled over from where a stack of papers had distracted her as he came in, and Razor Shard realized he didn't know how long he'd been looking at the still body. The nurse spoke up in a snappish tone. "What are you doing, don't you know nopony is allowed to see the patients! The risk of a changeling sneaking in is too great!" Razor Shard tried to channel his dashing side. "Please marm, I was gone until just recently and don't know what happened. I'll leave right away, but could you tell me what happened to my," he swallowed on the word, but managed to get it out. "Friend? I'll leave right after, but you'd be the person most likely to know, since you've been trusted with the responsibility of keeping him safe and cared for." The nurse maintained eye contact for a short time, before looking away with a huff. "Very well, I'll tell you what happened, but I'm keeping my eye on you. The Princess herself informed me of my duty, and I won't let some lazy pony who didn't even show up to the trial yesterday make me betray the Princess' trust!" Razor Shard bowed humbly and listened carefully as she told him about Zecora and how they had accidentally betrayed the most loyal pony among them. She told him about how Straw would be fine, but he wouldn't wake up until all the changelings had been found. And she told him about how he wasn't the only pony who had been missing. Hidden Antler wasn't back either, but they had found his abandoned quiver of arrows left behind. Whatever that meant, it wasn't anything good. After the tale was finished, Razor Shard was quickly pushed out of the medical tent and told not to come back unless it was an emergency. Still partially in a daze, he trotted off, meandering through the closed shops and boarded up stores. Eventually he came to a stop in front of his own Smithy, left unattended for over a day. Yes, the changelings were here and kidnapping people. Yes they had given up own of their own and lost an Element due to it. Yes things looked bleak and were getting worse. But he would carry on and find the lost ponies like he would find his father. (He ignored the whispering voice speaking of false hopes and dead parents.) Somepony had to carry on and keep spirits high, keep them together. He remembered a pony who lived in town who loved to cheer people up with flowers. Perhaps he could find her and help her to spread some cheer around. But first, he had to find Prism and apologize for not making it to the party. Dusts, it must have looked like he left in the middle of talking to her! He didn't know why, but for some reason he didn't want her to have a bad impression of him. But before he set off, Razor Shard went inside his small home and levered up one of the floorboards. Not a loose one like you saw in movies, one that was fully nailed in. He pulled out a wrapped package and carefully unwrapped it, before positioning the scabbard carefully on his flank, opposite of his cutie mark. Things were getting dangerous now, and he would use whatever he had to ensure the threat was dealt with. Quick note, I was not attacked by changelings last night that I am aware of, or anything close to that. It is the best reason RP wise that would keep Razor Shard from the voting and from Prism's party.
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  31. Bracken sat in the library, continuing to work. He had to finish his work, the sooner the better. What if the changelings came after him before he finished? Or, even worse, if his friends subjected him to that potion from the Zebra? The zebra seriously freaked him out. What was her purpose in life, to live in a creepy tree not full of wonderful books? Friendship. Partying. Perhaps there was something in common there... maybe even with love. Happiness, he realized. Genuine pleasure at enjoying life. Too much of partying and friends can hurt you, but being happy? Nothing can hurt you about that. Now people all find their different ways of being happy, whether through religion or food or even partying. This was an important part of the meaning of life. "Enjoying the journey" he said to Wormy. "Is this the meaning of life?" "Perhaps not all of it. Do not the changelings derive pleasure from the journey of causing us pain?" Wormy retorted. "Indeed," sighed Bracken. He had felt like that wasn't all of it. He could almost... FEEL it, just ever out of reach. He still needed to address some important philosophies that had nothing to do with being happy. And he also needed to address the fact that it was his birthday today. Should he invite someone over? If so, who? There certainly weren't any girl ponies he had been interested in. And he spent so much time in his library. Last night had been the first time he had gotten out in ages. Maybe he needed more happiness. Yes, researching made him happy, but if he could share his goal... ha could invite all the ponies, and get CHEEZITS and other wonderful things from some restaurants... "Wormy, let's make some invitations. For every one. We can bring them to the library. Yes, even Princess Luna! They all deserve a nice party. With some cheezits." Bracken smiled. This did make him happy. All these philosophies did have value. It was just he needed to find the over-arching philosophy of the most value. But it was his birthday. He might as well enjoy it. it actually is my birthday tomorrow, but it is part of the cycle, so I'll do my RP party tomorrow. And if you want to include it in the write up @Herowannabe that would be just fine. Everyone should come! It'll be great! And if it ends up in the write up, I fully accept that there will be changeling shenanigans.
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  32. Ha. I can imagine when people travel from one planet to another in the cosmere, the Scadrians get people going 'do people really eat metal to use investiture?' and them finding it not weird at all. Although, it's quite possible there are weirder systems out there. I mean, I seem to remember Brandon talking about a story he had an idea for where people got powers from diseases...it's probably very hard to make jokes like that one in the cosmere without actually mentioning a real magic system. 'Eating metal? That's ridiculous! That's like...getting powers from doing maths!' 'I've seen that one, too. Very dangerous.'
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  33. LG33: Term 8, Month 2 - Sleeping Amelia slept soundly, that night. Mist drifted through the town, seeping through cracks in the houses. Under cover of that mist, a shard of something came flying, tapping at the window harder and harder. (Amelia slept.) After a few minutes, it hit hard enough to simply shatter the window. (Amelia kept sleeping.) It came in, seeking Amelia. But it couldn’t seem to find her, somehow. The room was small and the bed was obvious, but shards don’t usually have eyes. (Amelia slept.) After a while, it started hovering above a spot, hoping (if such an object could hope) that it was above her bed. (It was not above her bed.) Quickly and forcefully, the shard embedded itself... into the floor of her bedroom, through a pile of clothes left there. Amelia kept sleeping. BR was attacked, but didn’t die! A Name was used. Term 8, Month 2 has begun. You have 42 hours to send in actions. Do not forget lodging orders. Player List 1. Queensteph - Vintish Noblewoman 2. Randuir (Telar Pike) - Yllish Commoner Student 3. Hemalurgic Headshot (Noremac Quwester) - Aturan Nobleman Skindancer Master Physicker 4. Aonar (Aodhan Breacadh) - Edema Ruh Skindancer in Naming 5. Wilson (Sloan Walker) - Cealdish Commoner Student 6. Straw (Medicus Novis) - Yllish Commoner 7. Paranoid King (William Opuscule) - Yllish Commoner 8. Ornstein (John Springer) - Aturan Nobleman Student in Physicking 9. Jondesu (Vell) - Yllish Commoner Insane 10. Drake Marshall (Greyson) - Cealdish Commoner Student in Physicking 11. Assassin in Burgundy (Jurdaan Longfell) - Yllish Commoner Student 12. Burnt Spaghetti (Dele Fajro) - Vintish Noblewoman 13. Orlok (Locke Alveron) - Cealdish Commoner 14. Magestar (Magestar) - Vintish Nobleman Insane 15. Alvron (Stryker Nox) - Cealdish Commoner Insane 16. Arinian (Darian) - Aturan Nobleman 17. Stick (Stick) - Aturan NobleStick Student in Archives and Physicking 18. Darkness Ascendant (Balthazar Myrrh) - Yllish Commoner Student 19. Cluny the Scourge (Cluny) - Aturan Nobleman 20. Silverblade (Ryth) - Cealdish Commoner Student 21. Amanuensis (Esuan) - Yllish Commoner Student 22. BrightnessRadiant (Amelia) - Aturan Noblewoman 23. Eolhondras (Eolah) - Yllish Commoner Student 24. STINK - Yllish Commoner Skindancer in Linguistics 25. Hael (Glavion) - Edema Ruh Insane 26. Sart (Titud) - Edema Ruh Insane 27. Joe (Chalks) - Yllish Commoner Insane
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  34. Cycle 2: Eccentric Enchantress The moon rose slowly over Ponyville, bringing with it Princess Luna. She alighted in the center of the town square, where a crowd herd of ponies had already gathered. Straw looked up at the Princess and wondered, Will she through their trickery? She’s a princess, surely she will be able to see the truth, won’t she? All the other ponies in town were Changelings. Every last one of them, except for Straw of course. He had suspected it all along, but his suspicions were confirmed when several of them had tackled him, stuffed a gag in his mouth and trussed him up like a pig for market. Princess Luna looked over the gathering of traitors, and spoke. “You have found somepony you suspect of being a Changeling?” Several ponies nodded, but none of them objected. Of course. “What evidence do you have?” Good, she doesn’t believe them, Straw thought, until Jeeves trotted forward and presented the Princess with a list- several lists actually, each bundled up in a tight scroll and carefully arranged on a tray- that outlined all their reasons for suspecting Straw of being a Changeling. Luna skimmed a few of the scrolls, then nodded. “Very well, we shall see if you are right. Follow me.” She turned and started walking straight towards the Everfree forest. The forest was wild and frightening even by the light of day, but by night it was even worse, and everypony hesitated when they saw where Princess Luna was leading them. “Come!” Princess Luna called, looking back over her shoulder, and nervously the ponies began following after her, carrying Straw on their backs. Oh great, Straw thought. They’re going to feed me to a cragadile or a manticore or something. Figures. They walked through the dark forest by the light of the moon for some time, and though they heard the sounds of many wild creatures in the night, nothing troubled them. Eventually, they reached a creepy looking hut in the middle of the forest, with various baubles and potions hanging from its branches. Candlelight flickered through the windows, and a strange purple smoke drifted from the chimney. Princess Luna rapped her hoof softly on the door, and a moment later the door opened to reveal the zebra, Zecora. Twilight Sparkle had befriended Zecora some time ago, and many ponies were starting to trust her as well, but a great many others were still wary of the strange zebra. Upon seeing Luna, Zecora said, “Greetings, Princess of the night, Come inside into the light. I have been toiling all day for you, Mixing up this special brew.” Luna gestured for the ponies carrying Straw to follow, and together they entered the small hut. The other ponies gathered around, trying to get a peek through the doorway and windows. “Will this brew of yours work the way we want it to?” Luna asked. Zecora replied, “The Elixir of Secrets will do the trick, Though I warn you to not be too quick. A pony who drinks soon will see Her secrets revealed to you and me, But a side-effect awaits those who take: They shall fall asleep and shall not wake Until all the traitors are revealed, And not a one remains concealed.” Luna nodded gravely. “It will have to do.” Turning to the other ponies she added, “Fear not, little ponies, for I will guard the dreams of any innocent pony who drinks the Elixir of Secrets. Do you still wish to submit the unicorn Straw to this test?” The ponies glanced at each other, and then nodded. Straw sighed through the gag. Well at least this is better than getting eaten by a manticore. Probably. Zecora scooped a cupful of the purple elixir from her cauldron as the ponies removed Straw’s gag. He tried to cry out but they poured the purple liquid into his mouth and he spluttered and swallowed some of it. His eyes rolled back into his head and he blacked out. *** Next to Straw the boiling cauldron became agitated, swirling about and belching up a large cloud of purple smoke. The smoke spun and danced and formed into an image- It looked just like Straw, and it glowed with a pure silver light. The ponies watching glanced at each other, and Princess Luna hung her head. Apparently this meant that Straw had not been a changeling after all. Before anyone could speak though the smoke danced and spun again before reforming itself into a glowing image of a red crystal in the shape of a lightning bolt. Everypony gasped. It was an image of the Element of Loyalty. With a flash of light the cloud puffed away. The cauldron was now empty. Zecora shook her head sadly, then recited. “A terrible mistake has here been made, And a terrible price has now been paid. It will take time to mix another brew, Come back on the morrow to try anew.” Princess Luna departed shortly thereafter, taking Straw’s unconscious body to the Royal Castle to lay beside Princess Celestia, and the rest of the ponies somberly made their way back to Ponyville. Not everypony had gone with Princess Luna into the everfree forest, some had stayed behind. Hidden Antler was one of those. He hadn’t wanted any part of the accusations being tossed about, so he had stayed to the side, quietly crafting a bundle of rubber tipped arrows. It was soothing work, and he quickly became lost in it. Some time later he was interrupted by a small purple filly. “Watcha doin’?” she asked. Hidden Antler blinked, looking up at her. “I’m fletching- er… I’m making arrows. You use a bow to shoot them.” He gestured to the strung bow sitting to the side. By Tirek’s nose ring, is it nighttime already? Shouldn’t this little filly be in bed by now? And the filly wasn’t alone. Several other young foals surrounded Hidden Antler, looking at him curiously. “Wow,” the filly said. “That sounds useful. Especially with the coming war against the Changelings.” “Uh, yes, now where are your parents? Wait, what!? Who said anything about a war with the Changelings?” The fillies and colts were edging nearer, the curious looks on their faces slowly giving way to malicious smiles. One by one the foals’ eyes flashed with a green light. Uh oh… In the morning, nopony could find Hidden Antler, only a bundle of half-finished arrows where he had been working. Straw was lynched! He was a Village Pony with the Element of Loyalty! A Joe in the Bush was kidnapped! He was a Regular Village Pony! Vote Tally: Straw (5): Jondesu, Randuir, BrightnessRadiant, Ecthelion III, Anonymous Brightness Radiant (2): Paranoid King, Straw Paranoid King (1): Bridge Boy, Frozen Mint Player List EDIT: Just a reminder to the Unicorns out there: Your PM groups from cycle 1 are ended. You may now create a new PM group for cycle 2. If you wish to use your cycle 2 PM to communicate with the same players as cycle 1, you do not need to create a new PM, simply post in the cycle 1 PM group that you are using your PM for this cycle to continue the conversation. EDIT2: Quicklinks
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  35. I thought this photo of an apparently headless Cooper's Hawk would amuse y'all: He was preening his back feathers; here's what he looks like normally XD Random side note: @Mestiv, your sig has nailed down my city but failed to notice that my display name is now Sunbirb, not Sunbird.
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  36. I noticed the likes coming in. I think we appreciate it, I know I sure do. Your RP was fantastic too! This coming from a guy who does not enjoy MLP. And I'm sitting here having all sorts of fun.
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  37. Ah... I find this particular scene bittersweet. It is sweet because Kaladin is finally getting a fair treatment for the horrors he had to endure for Amaram's shake. It is bitter because my gut feeling is Dalinar is progressively replacing Adolin with Kaladin, the "son" he always wanted, but never got. It was a very good scene.
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  38. I'm planning on doing an oil painting of thousands of arrows being sucked straight toward Kaladin's shield. I will use vivid colors and the "invisible lines" of the arrows will make Kal the exact focus of the artwork. It'll be a long project, but that's my favorite "image" in WoK.
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  39. From the album: The Emperor's Soul - Visual Development

    For my new portfolio project, I decided to do some Visual Development artwork based on Brandon Sanderson’s novella „The Emperor’s Soul“. I did my best to stick to the descriptions I found in the book, with some artistic license where necessary, or whenever I couldn't find much visual descriptions. I will try to keep my descriptions spoiler free, but I hope everyone who read the book will recognize the art. To kick it off, here is a key scene of Shai & Gaotona in Shai's room. More to come!

    © Johanna Rupprecht (Lyraina)

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  40. Holy cow I got a little overwhelmed there lol. All good points. It really could be useful for finding those elims. Elims aside, tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY (and Bracken's too) and EVERYONE IS INVITED. To my library
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  41. For me, the best scene is Dalinar facing Sadeas at the end of WoK and trading his shardblade for the bridgemen. It was sooo satisfying. Plus the larger conversion about how much a life is worth with Kaladin. Just amazing.
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  42. The multiple lashings / kick mean a much more concentrated force than a person falling under normal gravity. To a degree, yes... but we don't see the coins going supersonic (bullwhip crack/sonic boom effects) so that still limits the total energy. Also, the force does drop off with distance, though not through anything like a classic inverse-square law. It has to, or Vin could levitate upward from a coin indefinitely rather than stopping at a hundred feet. Problem is, for a coin to have comparable kinetic energy to Vin travelling at "blurring" speed, it would have to be moving absurdly fast - well into hypersonic speeds. Also, I think they'd have to have the same momentum - but not the same kinetic energy. Which makes the problem even worse, since momentum is only linear with velocity, not exponential - so you're talking coins traveling at hundreds of kilometers per second to have the same momentum as Vin traveling at a few tens of meters per second (since Vin probably has something like 10,000 times the mass of a coin - say 45kg vs 2 to 10 grams for a coin). I think anchor quality is the missing factor here. If Vin pushed on a coin in vacuum, Vin and the coin would get the same momentum in opposite directions - but it would be a tiny amount, since a free-floating coin is a terrible anchor. To fly, Vin has to put the coin on the ground, where it's anchored against the mass of the planet. However, it's still not as good of an anchor as a larger metal object on the ground would be. A better anchor seems to allow more total force. True - but as coins still seem to be subsonic, the total work and energy can't be all that high.
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  43. I just got back from Austin after going down yesterday for the UIL State Solo Contest. I got a 1 on my solo! 1 is the best, by the way. Oh, also, I'm a little past halfway through Words of Radiance. Yesterday was a good day.
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  44. Not necessarily, it would depend on exactly how the force was applied, positioning etc. People have survived getting hit by very large bears, and the larger ones probably have something like twenty times the strength of the average man (at least upper body strength - human musculature is more endurance running focused, which is why bulky burst-strength creatures like apes and bears seem so ridiculously strong relative to us). Mundane weapons can do it, but with lots of time and losses among the regular troops. The sling stones were human-head-sized rocks from Warform Parshendi; that's well beyond baseline human strength. Possibly, but not necessarily. There are two difficulties with determining how effective coins would be against Shardplate: 1) Shardplate doesn't seem to quite work like a better version of conventional armor - it seems like massive blunt force is used against it rather than concentrated force (pointed/edged weapons). This doesn't line up with the kinds of weapons (flanged maces, estocs, real warhammers which were more like a modern claw hammer than a maul) invented to fight highly developed plate armor in our world. From what we've seen, it's quite possible that a big slow hammer/stone is a lot more effective vs Shardplate than a small fast coin. 2) Coinshot coins seem to cheat physics a bit. While getting hit with a fast-moving coin would be dangerous, in the real world I don't think it could be made into a reliably lethal/incapacitating weapon against even unarmored normal humans. Against armor, even fairly poor armor, they'd be pretty much useless. Coins are probably subsonic, due to the lack of sonic booms/bullwhip crack sounds. At 250 meters per second, a 5 gram US nickel would have 156.25 joules of kinetic energy [ from 1/2mv^2: 0.5 * 0.005 kg * (250 m/s)^2 ]. That's very close to a .22 bullet according to this: That's dangerous, although it's not the kind of bullet one would use against armored enemies. However... the center-of-mass nature of Iron/Steel allomancy means that the coin is almost guaranteed to hit side-on - air resistance will flip it side-on unless the starting alignment is completely perfectly edge-on. So the impact will be spread out over a much larger area - the nickel is 21.2 mm wide, while the bullet is 5.7 mm wide. That's 3.7 times the diameter, but 13.7 times the area. And the bullet is somewhat pointed at the end... IE, subsonic coins will have basically zero penetration. A jacket or significant fat would probably block them. And if you increase the speed, you get into "impact depth" issues - basically, you can't make low-mass-per-frontal-area projectiles very penetrating by making them very fast (because of conservation of momentum - to make a hole, the projectile has to push the mass of the armor/flesh/whatever out of the way). The only way to make side-on coin impacts effective weapons would be to get the speeds so high they start acting like explosives: shooting it out of a railgun at Mach 8 would probably work.
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  45. My favorite scenes, in order, at least at the moment (order may change, somewhat, depending on my mood at the time): 1) Bridge Four rescuing Dalinar and company from Sadeas' betrayal. 2) Kaladin and Adolin's duel against four Shardbearers. (It also has the best line in the series: Kaladin's "Honor is dead. But I'll see what I can do." 3) Jasnah interviewing Shallan to be her ward. 4) Kaladin strung up in the Highstorm; or more accurately, the immediate aftermath. But I also love the description of Syl doing what she can to part the winds. 5) Syl bringing Kaladin a leaf. 6) Kaladin swearing his second Ideal. 7) Dalinar coming to grips with the fact that there's no way he could beat Szeth, either now or in the past. It's maybe worth noting that five of the seven scenes involve Kaladin -- is he my favorite character because he gets so many great scenes, or do I think his scenes are better because he's my favorite character? (Do windspren cause the wind, or are they attracted to it?). I'm sure other people get good scenes, too...but I'd probably have to reread the books to remember them. These ones come pretty much immediately to mind.
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  46. I think wayne will pop through and ascend to take cultivation
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  47. Except the Terriswoman in Warbreaker
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  48. Cultivation helped kill Honor because the Oathpact locks Roshar in a never ending cycle with no progress, which is against her intent.
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  49. Not it in the slightest. It was a cat.
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